WCAG 2.1 (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines)

The WCAG 2.1 are W3C guidelines for accessible web content, with testable success criteria at Levels A, AA and AAA.

What is WCAG 2.1 (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines)?

WCAG 2.1 is a W3C technical standard for accessible web content. It covers, among others, visual, auditory, physical, speech, language, cognitive, learning and neurological disabilities (WCAG 2.1, Introduction). The guidance is organised in layers:

• Four principles: perceivable, operable, understandable, robust.
• 13 guidelines: basic goals such as text alternatives (1.1), keyboard accessibility (2.1) or readability (3.1). The guidelines themselves are not testable.
• Success criteria: testable requirements, for example 1.1.1 Non-text Content.
• Techniques: informative sufficient and advisory techniques plus documented common failures.

There are three conformance levels: A (lowest), AA and AAA (highest). A page reaches Level AA when it satisfies all Level A and Level AA success criteria or a Level AA conforming alternate version is provided (WCAG 2.1, section 5.2.1). WCAG 2.1 is backwards compatible: pages that conform to WCAG 2.1 also conform to WCAG 2.0. It adds 17 success criteria, including 1.4.10 Reflow, 1.4.11 Non-text Contrast and 4.1.3 Status Messages (WCAG 2.1, "New Features in WCAG 2.1").

Legal bases and references

Directive (EU) 2016/2102, the BITV 2.0 and the WZG do not name WCAG explicitly. The link runs through the four basic requirements and through harmonised standards.

EU

Under Article 4 of Directive (EU) 2016/2102, Member States ensure that public sector bodies make their websites and mobile applications perceivable, operable, understandable and robust. These are the same terms as the four WCAG principles. Article 6(1) ties the presumption of conformity to harmonised standards whose references are published in the Official Journal of the EU. As long as no such references are published, Article 6(3) presumes conformity for websites that meet EN 301 549 V1.1.2 (2015-04).

Germany

§ 3(1) BITV 2.0 adopts the same four requirements. Under § 3(2) BITV 2.0, compliance is presumed where services meet harmonised standards cited in the Official Journal of the EU.

Austria

§ 3 Abs. 1 WZG places the same duty on the bodies listed in § 2 Abs. 1 Z 1 and 2. § 3 Abs. 2 WZG contains the presumption for harmonised standards whose references are published in the Official Journal of the EU. The WZG applies to websites and mobile applications of the federal government and federally affiliated institutions (§ 2 Abs. 1 WZG). For the federal states and municipalities, the state laws apply.

EN 301 549 V3.2.1

In version V3.2.1, the EN 301 549 standard adopts the WCAG 2.1 Level A and Level AA success criteria. Conformance with WCAG 2.1 Level AA is equivalent to conforming with clauses 9.1 to 9.4 and the conformance requirements of clause 9.6 (clause 9.0). Clause 10 applies the criteria to documents that are not web pages, such as downloadable files (clause 10.0). Some criteria are adapted: the page title becomes the document title (10.2.4.2), and bypassing blocks does not apply to single documents (10.2.4.1).

WCAG 2.2

WCAG 2.2 adds nine success criteria to WCAG 2.1, including 2.4.11 Focus Not Obscured (Minimum), 2.5.8 Target Size (Minimum) and 3.3.8 Accessible Authentication (Minimum), each at Level AA. Success criterion 4.1.1 Parsing has been removed (WCAG 2.2, "Comparison with WCAG 2.1"). EN 301 549 V3.2.1 refers to WCAG 2.1, not to WCAG 2.2.

Practical example

Downloadable PDF, Word and PowerPoint files fall under clause 10 of EN 301 549, not clause 9 (clause 10.0). A company might publish an annual report as a PDF, a form as a Word file and a presentation in PowerPoint. Typical checkpoints under WCAG 2.1:

• Alternative text for graphics and charts (10.1.1.1, WCAG 1.1.1)
• structure from headings, lists and tables (10.1.3.1, WCAG 1.3.1)
• a meaningful reading order (10.1.3.2, WCAG 1.3.2)
• sufficient contrast (10.1.4.3, WCAG 1.4.3)
• a descriptive document title (10.2.4.2, based on WCAG 2.4.2) and a defined document language (10.3.1.1, based on WCAG 3.1.1)

How WCAG, EN 301 549 and PDF/UA work together for documents is explained in PDF/UA, WCAG and EN 301 549 for documents. If you prefer not to rework your files in-house, you can have your documents made accessible.

See also

• EN 301 549 (harmonised standard for ICT accessibility)
• PDF/UA (ISO 14289)
• Alternative text (alt text)
• Reading order